Delays fuel fears of electoral fraud in Zimbabwe

A supporter of Movement for Democratic Change raises her hand in the party’s five fingered salute during celebrations in Harare as preliminary election results came in. Photographer: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty
Alexander Joe/AFP

The delay in official results of Zimbabwe's presidential vote today fuelled international fears that Robert Mugabe was resorting to electoral fraud to hang on to power.

The EU and Britain urged Zimbabwe's electoral officials to publish final results of the vote as quickly as possible to "avoid unnecessary speculation".

An EU spokesman, John Clancy, said Zimbabwe's electoral commission needed to show its "independence" amid claims by the opposition that they have defeated Mugabe in parliamentary and presidential elections.

Downing Street echoed the EU's concern.

"At the moment we are awaiting the formal announcement of the results of the elections in Zimbabwe," said Gordon Brown's spokesman. "We very much hope that the announcement will not be delayed unduly. It's important, particularly for the people of Zimbabwe, that there is clarity about the situation regarding the elections as soon as possible."

Mugabe blocked the electoral commission from releasing official presidential election results and threatened to treat opposition claims of victory as a coup.

The only official results to have been released were for the 210 parliamentary seats — relatively insignificant compared with the presidential vote.

In early results, Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party suffered major blows early on as several cabinet members including the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, lost their seats.

The electoral commission said each party had won 19 parliamentary constituencies out of the total of 210 seats.

No official results were available for the presidential poll, in which Mugabe faces the severest challenge to his 28-year rule with Zimbabwe in economic turmoil.

In an early morning broadcast on radio and television, the deputy chief elections officer, Utoile Silaigwana, declared the first parliamentary results before saying: "We'll be back with you when we have more results."

The delay in releasing the result heightened fears of fraud. Two South African members of the Southern African Development Community, a regional observer mission, said it "underscores the fear that vote-rigging is taking place".

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said that what it regards as the overwhelming win by its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, was "under threat" despite growing support for its claim of victory from foreign monitors.

The MDC said the party also said it had "security concerns" after a police raid on its election offices yesterday. Tsvangirai made no public appearances, apparently because of concern for his safety.

Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, warned Tsvangirai not to declare himself president because that "is called a coup d'etat, and we all know how coups are handled".

Sources close to the MDC said the party leadership had put out feelers to the military and elements of the ruling Zanu-PF to try to arrange a peaceful transfer of power.

Independent monitoring groups said returns posted at around two-thirds of polling stations gave Tsvangirai 55% of the vote to Mugabe's 36%.

The monitors said there was no way for the president to win the election legitimately. He had lost in his home territory of Mashonaland along with other former strongholds.

A third presidential candidate, Simba Makoni, a former finance minister who broke with Mugabe, took around 9% of the vote.

Zanu-PF also appeared to have suffered losses in the parliamentary election, with at least nine members of its politburo losing their seats. These included the vice-president, Joice Mujuru, and the defence, information and education ministers.

The MDC's secretary general, Tendai Biti, said the party was increasingly alarmed at the refusal of the state-run Zimbabwe electoral commission to issue any results.

"It appears the regime is at a loss how to respond ... We are really concerned by this assault on democracy," he said. "The primary point of an election is a result. We think there is a constitutional threat to those results."

In the past, the commission has begun issuing results as soon as they are posted at polling stations, collating them by constituency for release within hours of the vote.

The organisation's chairman, George Chiweshe, declined to explain why he was still not issuing results more than 24 hours after the polls closed.

"This is a complicated election, and we will release the results when we have them," he said.

Opposition supporters in some towns, including Bulawayo, Mutare and Masvingo, publicly celebrated, but generally Zimbabweans were cautious, not quite believing that Mugabe would leave office.

With more than 50% of the vote, Tsvangirai would avoid a runoff election, although his proportion might yet fall below the threshold because many of the remaining results are from rural areas in which Mugabe traditionally has support.

Biti warned that there was still scope for fraud. He said his party was encountering new irregularities, including the sudden appearance of additional ballot boxes at polling stations where the count had been completed.

He also said MDC election agents had been prevented from attending the count at several polling stations where the results then showed Zanu-PF doing significantly better than in surrounding areas.

South African monitors said they believed the opposition had won, but would delay making a public statement until the official results were announced.

The Pan-African parliament observer mission warned against further delays in issuing the results.

The British foreign office minister, Mark Malloch-Brown, said it was "quite likely" that Mugabe had lost despite "massive pre-election day cheating".

Kenya-based Andebrhan Giorgis of the International Crisis Group thinktank said it was possible Mugabe would concede.

"It is not outside the realm of possibility that he would accept defeat in a supreme act of statesmanship," he said. "An act of concession would redeem him and it would be the only way of assuring stability, avoid violence and begin reversing economic decline."